If you RTFA, it's more of a squatters problem than a homeless problem. People are checking into cheap motels, stop paying and claiming residence status forcing motel owners to undergo the expensive legal process of eviction. The local sheriff says aw shucks, look at these poor people and the motel owners who are probably not very wealthy are screwed. Would be interesting to see how long that would last if they tried it at a 5 star hotel near Disney. I bet the sheriff would have no problem throwing them out then.

I had no enjoyment at Disney World. The sheets and blankets were worn and torn, the hall smelled like a gym. Inside the park, so many people that they had to close the park entrance. No places to eat due to the crowds. The first thing they ask you at the gate is if you want to finance your tickets. Think about that. Inside the Contempary time share selling. Everything is so expensive, I vow never to go back. The mouse has found his way into your wallet and that is a greedy little FARKInG mouse.

I've stayed at lots of hotels where the service desk is not behind bulletproof glass, and the normal practice at those places is to put an initial hold of roughly 1-2 nights' stay on your credit card upfront, but not authorize and capture the actual amount owed until it's determined at checkout.

I don't know what their policy is on cash payments because who doesn't use a credit card?

So shady family gives them a credit card with a few hundred dollars limit, they charge 2 nights and shady family says for 9 months. That is what is happening (at least inferred from the article). Then they are not guests at the hotel but claim "residency" and the motel has to follow landlord rules which are time consuming and expensive to kick them out. It sounds like central Florida is developing it's own breed of Roma or somthing.

That's funny, I didn't see the word "scourge" anywhere in TFA. And the people quoted in the article seem to be genuinely interested in finding solutions. Then again, this is Fark, so I shouldn't expect the headline to be an accurate representation of the article.

The article is correct in that the strip along US 192 attracts people (especially families) who have housing problems. They come from the surrounding areas because there are a lot of cheap motels that rent by the week or the month, and while they're not the nicest or cleanest, it beats living in your car. Residency in a motel is sufficient to get your kids registered for school, and the schools do a lot to help those kids.

/Used to live in Osceola County//My kids had school friends who lived in the motels///It's surprisingly common

Celebration does have a bit of a creepy vibe, and maybe thats because of the ties to Disney and their image of ultra-clean living, but Celebration and other towns like it, like Seaside, FL, are examples of "New Urbanism", which has some very valid points to make. Mainly, the goal is to create towns that are walkable and multi-zoned/mixed-use, much like how old-world towns use to be. The idea being, you could walk to and from work and all the shopping you would need to do.

Mugato:Remember when the real American President, GW Bush was in office, rags like this did story after story about "tent-cities" when the unemployment rate hit 4%?!! Now it is realistically 13% and this rag blames everyone but the person at fault. One Marxist-in-Chief, Hussein Obama.

comfort yourself with the knowledge that no one that stupid will never be in a position of power or influence over you